An additive commonly found in fast food can weaken the effects of the flu vaccine.
It may be time to retire your takeaway habit. Following news that one in five deaths was linked to a poor diet, is the release of a new study which believes regularly indulging in dishes like fish and chips makes you far more prone to the flu.
Michigan State University scientists recently uncovered that a food additive commonly found in cooking oils, frozen meats and fast food like fish and chips can lower the benefits of a flu vaccine. The preservative Tert-butylhydroquinone (or the far easier to pronounce tBHQ) altered the immune response to the virus in mice.
“If you get a vaccine, but part of the immune system doesn’t learn to recognise and fight off virus-infected cells, then this can cause the vaccine to be less effective,” explains Robert Freeborn, the doctoral student who led the study with associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology Cheryl Rockwell.
For Professor Robert Booy, Head of the Clinical Research team at Australia’s National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance, the discovery was a “tantalising” one that he believed needed further exploration.
“It’s not yet been tested on humans but in further research, I would be very keen to see if our favourite fish and chips is actually helping to make us sick,” he told The Courier Mail this week.
Your best bet in the interim? Stick to the home-made kind. You can find our ultimate recipe for the dish (courtesy of Josh Niland) here.
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